Art, Love, and Chocolate: A Joël Durand Collection Celebrates Salvador Dali

Do you like a delicious story involving art, love, and chocolate? Chocolatier Joël Durand of St-Rémy-de-Provence has created a new chocolate collection celebrating the love affair between artist Salvador Dali and Gala Éluard. The collection is available as of October 17, 2026. Enjoy this sweet treat and Keith’s article.

Dali and His Muse

In 1929, Gala Éluard met 24-year-old Salvador Dali, then a struggling artist ten years her junior. It was love at first sight, and the two became inseparable. Gala was Dali’s muse, his manager, and the model for many of his paintings. She was so intimately involved in his work that Dali signed many of his paintings “Gala-Dali” or “Gala Salvador Dali.” After achieving success and renown, Dali presented Gala with a gift: the Castle of Púbol. That same year, he created what became known as the Daligram, a kind of secret alphabet made up of their initials and other symbols.

The Most Beautiful Place

Dali produced many of his works in Cadaqués, on the Cap de Creus in Catalonia. Dali loved the Cap de Creus, a rugged area that he called “the most beautiful place in all the Mediterranean.”

Cap de Creus. Photo credit ©Joël Durand

Today, another artist also loves the Cap de Creus: Maître Chocolatier Joël Durand. He first discovered it years ago during family vacations, and has returned again and again. Inspired by Gala and Dali’s love story, Durand created an homage to them: the Lover’s Alphabet from Dali to Gala (l’Alphabet Amoureux de Dali à Gala).

Durand has taken seven symbols from the Daligram and matched them with seven special chocolates. Each marks an aspect of the love story between Dali and Gala, like chocolate with wild rose essence, to commemorate the roses of the Castle of Pùbol.

Photo credit ©Joël Durand

To anchor them to the place Dali so loved, Durand has spent the past year extracting plant essences from the Cap de Creus, “under the light of its skies, in a place at once so beautiful, powerful, and agonizing.” These essences, from plants like wild lavender, immortelle, and rosemary, are used to create these special chocolates.

Photo credit ©Joël Durand

A Special Permission

The Dali legacy is protected by the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in Figueres, Spain, where Dali was born. Salvador Dali created it to promote, foster, and enhance the painter’s artistic, cultural, and intellectual work worldwide.

The Foundation receives a high volume of licensing requests, and quality products and respect for the artist and his creations are a must. The Foundation has granted a license to Joël Durand, “a chocolatier who has taken time, dedication, and care to create the Alphabet Amoureux de Dali à Gala, a delicious set of high-quality chocolates inside a delicate box.”

Photo credit ©Joël Durand – Image Rights of Salvador Dalí reserved. Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2026

The Lover’s Alphabet will be revealed on October 17 at the Expo Dali in Cadaquès, and will be available at Durand’s boutique in St-Rémy and online at the same time. Lovers of Dali and lovers of chocolate should mark the date.

Practical Information

Joël Durand Maître Chocolatier (website)
3 boulevard Victor Hugo
Tel: +33 (0)4 90 92 38 25

Closed Sunday afternoon and all day on Mondays
Visitors can sample the Alphabet of Flavors—try one!

A Master Chocolate Maker

As a child, Joël Durand had three ambitions —to be a chef, a pastry-maker, or a race car driver. He began cooking at age six, quit school at 14 to apprentice as a pastry maker in Cherbourg. At 17, Durand was hired by two restaurants at the same time, managing over two dozen pastry makers in the resort town of Megève—one of the restaurants had a Michelin star!

After Megève, Durand took his talents to Scotland, directing the pastry operation at the famous Turnberry hotel. Then he returned to France, working at luxury hotels before finally opening his shop back home in Brittany. He found himself working more and more with chocolate and, in 1996, decided to move to Provence, opening a chocolate boutique in St-Rémy-de-Provence.

Read More About Joël Durand

It Runs in the Family

Chez Nouch opened its doors and is already making waves. Lucie Durand, Joël Durand’s daughter, founded it. The café-restaurant offers high-quality, entirely gluten-free pastries. Her shop near the town’s main square offers cakes, cookies, entremets, bagel sandwiches, and more, along with salads and drinks. More than a patisserie, Chez Nouch is also a tearoom, with cozy seating inside and out. Business is already so strong that table space ran out during the first week of operations.

Chez Nouch
2 Impasse Jaume Comte, St-Rémy
Open Wednesday – Sunday
Instagram: @chez-nouch

Private Baux de Provence & Saint Remy de Provence Wine Tour from Marseille

Create your perfect private wine tour in Provence, tailored to your preferences (half-day or full-day). Whether you want to combine wine tasting with stunning landscapes, charming villages, or cultural exploration, we’ll design an itinerary just for you.

Book this Experience

Keith Van Sickle

Keith and Val Van Sickle made their first trip to Provence decades ago, and it was love at first sight. After that, they came back every year until 2008, when they began a part-time life there, splitting their time between Provence and California.

Over the years, they’ve travelled all over Provence, seeing sights both well-known and obscure. Their French friends have introduced them to favourite restaurants and wineries and picnic spots and taught them funny local expressions (not all for polite company).

Keith now shares this local knowledge in his new book, An Insider’s Guide to Provence. Packed with the Van Sickles’ favourite things to see and do, it’s a must-have for anyone travelling to this glorious corner of France.

Keith previously published two books about the couple's experiences in Provence. One Sip at a Time: Learning to Live in Provence, and Are We French Yet?, both are available from Amazon.

You can see all of Keith’s blog posts at Life in Provence.